August 4, 1687: Cossack Rada (Council) on the river Kolomak elects Ivan Mazepa Hetman of Ukraine. August 4, 1941: after severe battles Soviet forces retreat from Kirovohrad. August 5, 1919: a Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine is formed under anarchist Nestor Makhno's command. August 5, 1941: Odesa is besieged, its heroic defense to go down in the history of World War II. August 6, 1944: Drohobych is taken by units of the Fourth Ukrainian Front. August 6, 1975: the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR is awarded the Order of the Friendship of Nations. August 7, 1225: Prince Danylo of Halych wins a battle on the river San for the Halych-Volyn Principality. August 7, 1968: the Dniprodzerzhinsk hydroelectric station begins generating. August 8, 1968: USSR Council of Ministers resolves to found the State Institute of Culture in Kyiv. August 8, 1985: withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan begins. August 9: Construction Worker's Day. August 9, 1945: the Soviet Union begins hostilities against Japan. August 9, 1959: Novy Kryvy Rih Mining and Concentration Combine yields first products. August 10, 1628: the historic Swedish warship Vasa, caught by a gust of wind, keels over and sinks a short distance out of Stockholm. August 10, 1700: Russia and Turkey sign the Peace Treaty of Constantinople.






